Behavioral, biochemical, and
physiological analysis of learning and memory.

The main research interest of Dr. Thiels is how animals acquire information from the environment and use that information to guide their behavior. Understanding of the biological substrates of learning and memory is one of the most sought-after goals of neuroscience because of the universality of these cognitive faculties and their utmost importance for survival in a variable environment. Growing evidence indicates that learning and memory involve specific neural circuits and, within these circuits, specific physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes. Likely neurophysiological substrates of learning and memory include experience-induced changes in the strength of synaptic communication. Dr. Thiels' laboratory studies experience-dependent bidirectional synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, a structure in the medial temporal lobes critical for the acquisition and storage of episodic and factual memories. Another, recently initiated line of study in the laboratory focuses on experience-dependent alterations of function in brain circuits implicated in reward learning and drug addiction. This work is aimed at advancing our understanding of cue-induced drug craving and relapse.